A place for our stuff
by Pegship
Summary: Spoilers for season 8; started after the sneak peek for 8x05, but before I saw the episode. Castle can't bring himself to be present when Kate comes to "pick up the rest of her stuff", so he hides in his PI cave. Until he finds out she didn't take anything, and she wants to try to meet up.
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N:** The latest sneak peek for 8x05 broke my heart, dammit; this is my desperate attempt at positive spin. I haven't seen the episode yet, but there are spoilers here for the first four episodes of season 8._

* * *

"I need to - pick up the rest of my stuff."

Rick freezes. The rest of *her* stuff? It's their stuff now.

"Absolutely," he stutters. "Any time."

She has the good grace to look - sad? Is she sad? or just embarrassed, at having to ask? Rick looks over his shoulder as she goes back to her office. Out of nowhere he's reminded of all the times she's walked away from him, for better or worse.

This time, there's no "You coming, Castle?"

Rick turns away from the spot he was frozen to and starts making his way to the elevator.

* * *

After his conversation with the olfactorily gifted woman, he has scientific - well, anecdotal - proof that Kate still wants him. Then again, before he and Kate finally came together, Rick still had wild and crazy sex with Meredith on an irregular basis, so he knows better than anyone that desire doesn't always mean commitment.

But she's not Meredith. (Thank God.) And he knows perfectly well that Kate isn't just using him for sex, though there have been times (a long time ago) when he would have been quite happy with only that. Kate loves him, and he can feel himself being dragged back into the hamster wheel of confusion over "why...why...why…" Why is she doing this? Why does she keep saying she loves him - but she wants to "pick up the rest of her stuff"?

He doesn't want to know. He certainly doesn't want to stand by and watch. She has a key - she can take what she wants and not have to deal with him at all. Probably for the best.

Rick lets himself into the "bat cave" behind his PI office, making sure to lock everything down and turn his phone off before throwing himself down on the long sofa and wrapping up in something plaid and fleecy. Sleep is a long time coming, but at last the clamor of thoughts in his head dies down and he drifts off with tears drying on his cheeks.

* * *

"Dad. Dad, wake up. Come on, before I throw cold water on you."

Alexis. And she's pissed. Years of experience tell Rick that his daughter is not just anxious, or frustrated, or impatient, but well and truly angry. At him.

Some wake-up call.

He rolls over, still in his blanket cocoon, and opens his eyes to see her standing over him, arms folded, blue eyes blazing.

"What," he says.

"Don't 'what' me, Dad. I didn't hunt all over creation for you, your cell signal, your car, any trace of you, just to hear you say 'what'."

Whoops.

"I'm sorry I turned off my phone, sweetheart," he says, sincerely. He'd unplugged the land line in the inner sanctum as well, something he hopes she didn't notice -

"And disconnected the land line," she goes on. "I understand wanting to hide, get away from it all, but you and I had a deal, Dad."

She sits heavily on the sofa as he sits up to make room and puts an arm around her.

"You're right. I blew it," he says. "Should have left you a note. Or called, or texted, or something."

"I got home at eight and you weren't there," says Alexis. "And Beckett came by at nine, and then I went to bed early but I woke up at four and you still weren't there, so I guess I kind of - panicked."

Rick is cursing himself for his self-pity, for forgetting that his daughter may be old enough to drink, vote, and smoke, but in the middle of the night, alone in the loft, she's still his little girl.

After apologizing several more times, he just sits there hugging her, until finally she draws back to look him in the eye and says, "You haven't asked me about Beckett."

"What's to ask?" He tries to sound nonchalant. "What did she want?"

"She was expecting to see you - she was surprised you weren't there. Did you forget you were supposed to meet?"

"I didn't forget anything. We didn't agree to meet; she didn't need me there, so I made myself scarce. Trying to give her space. That's what she wants." He swallows, hard. He wants to go back to sleep until this nightmare is over and Kate is back in his arms.

"Well, last night she wanted to talk to you, and she couldn't get you on the phone. Neither could I, but I wasn't that worried - until I woke up and found you were gone."

Rick apologizes some more. Steeling himself to not use his daughter as a go-between, he nevertheless has to ask. "So, did Kate get what she wanted? What did she take?"

Alexis looks confused. "Take?"

"Yeah, she said she needed to - get some stuff from the loft. The rest of her stuff, she said."

"Um...well, once she saw you weren't there she just said she'd get hold of you later, and she left. She did go into your bedroom but I didn't see anything in her hands when she came out."

Rick runs his hands through his hair. Then he grabs his cell phone and powers it on - never has it taken so long - and the screen lights up with a single text message. From Kate.

 _Didn't find what I needed - any ideas?_

By now he has an inkling - a hope -

 _You need to settle your bar bill,_ he texts. _I'll be there tonight._

She sends back: _See you there._

Suddenly, his heart bounces back from where it had been lying on the floor, and his brain kicks back into gear...and he starts to plan.


	2. Chapter 2

The bartender looks up from his newspaper.

"Hey there, Mr. Castle," he says easily. "To what do we owe this early visit?"

"Just looking for something, Jay," says Castle with a grin. "It's not at my place, not at the office - thought I'd take a chance that I left it here. As you were - don't mind me."

It is, indeed, only three in the afternoon, but of course the bar's proprietor has free rein to visit when he likes. Castle goes around to the "cellar door" as he calls it, unlocks it, and goes downstairs to the business office, taking care to lock the door behind him before breathing a sigh of relief.

He takes the device he borrowed from Ryan out of the pocket of his trench coat and sets it carefully on the desk, then crosses the room to check the secret bookcase door to the secret passageway that leads to the even more secret storeroom. Satisfied that no one has been in that room, he takes off his coat and tosses it on the sofa nearby, then gets to work.

An hour later, Castle comes back upstairs and bids Jay goodbye, and if anyone notices a stray cobweb in his hair, no mention is made of it.

* * *

When the bookshelf shifts inward, just a tiny bit, Castle's gaze leaps from his book to the shadows along the wall. He listens hard, then gets up and pads sock-footed over to the place where the shelves should be covering the secret passage. He hums, then sings a bar under his breath.

"Use your mentality...wake up to reality…"

A low voice on the other side sings softly, "But each time I do just the thought of you makes me stop - "

Then it stops. With a grin, Castle takes hold of the shelves and heaves them sideways, leaving a gap about two feet wide for his visitor to squeeze through. Once inside, she flattens herself against the wall in the shadows, her eyes wide, her expression one of heightened alert.

Castle eases the bookcase back into place, turns to look at his wife, lays a finger on his lips to urge silence. She nods; then he steps right up against her, so that she's sandwiched between his body and the wall.

In the moment before he kisses her, she looks slightly shocked. Her response shifts quickly from shock to need, her hands caught between them on his chest, her face tipped up under his. The kiss goes on for some time, first hard, then gentle, then settling into each other with a sigh.

When her lips are freed, Kate looks up at him and whispers, "No ears?"

"No ears," he assures her, loosening his grip so she can regain her footing. "I scanned the place thoroughly this afternoon, and no one's been in here since."

"Why'd you shush me then?" she frowns.

"I wanted to get a chance to kiss you before you started talking," he points out. "Just in case it was bad news. Is it bad news?"

"Well…"

"Never mind. I don't wanna know. Kiss me again."

She seems amenable to that suggestion. When they come up for air this time, they're on the loveseat across from his desk, having made a combined effort to stumble over there while still kissing and touching each other.

Castle is quite content to believe (however mistakenly) that this is why she came here tonight - and he's also quite happy to remind her just how good they both are at pleasuring each other, so he doesn't ask her any more questions. After a while, though, Kate sits up straight (on his lap), runs her hands through her hair, and confesses.

"This is wonderful, babe," she says softly. "I miss you so much. But it isn't why I came here tonight."

Feeling like he just got doused with ice water, he shifts her off his lap and moves to sit at the end of the loveseat. Not very far from her, since it isn't very big, but it's a symbolic move.

"Please don't tell me you have divorce papers in your bag," he says. It's the worst thing he can imagine, and if that's what she's here for, they might as well get it over with.

"Divorce? No," she says with a scowl. "Of course not. Don't be an idiot, Castle."

"I'm just following the evidence," he replies. "You left me, you came to pick up your stuff - "

"I didn't take anything."

"So I hear. You come here via secret passage, like you're ashamed to be seen with me - "

Without a word, Kate gets up and goes around behind the desk, rifles through the drawers and comes up with two glasses and his half-full bottle of St. Miriam. She pours them each two fingers and brings his to him. Then she sits on his lap once more and taps their glasses together.

"I love you," she says. "But you're being an idiot. Are you done?"

"Maybe," he says. Letting his mouth run away with his feelings wasn't a great move, he knows, but the Scotch is helping settle his nerves. "Tell me why you came here, then."

"I came here because I figured out one thing I can tell you about why I left. Just one thing - please don't ask me for more."

"I make no promises."

"Fair enough. Here's the thing." She leans in, her cheek against his, and he's so suddenly electrified by the feeling of her skin on his that he almost misses what she breathes in his ear.

"Vikram is involved with the drug ring that's connected with the LOKSAT memo."

Castle jerks his head back to stare at her. "What!"

"Shh, shh," she cautions. "I'm pretty sure I'm the only one who's figured that out...so far. I can't give you details. But if I move back in with you, I'm also pretty sure he'll figure out that I'm onto him, and he'll have to kill me. And you too, most likely."

She lays her head on his shoulder and his arms tighten around her.

"You mean… you're trying to get to the head of Bracken's and Simmons' organization? Kate, are you nuts?" he hisses.

"Of course I am. I married you, didn't I?" She tries in vain to sound flippant. "Seriously, Castle, don't ask me anything else. The only thing you need to know right now is that I love you, and my leaving had nothing to do with anything you are, or did. I have to leave you out of the loop - the fewer people know about this, the better."

"Even me."

"Especially you," she says. "For one thing, he's always got an eye on where I am and with whom. I thought he might dismiss a visit to the loft, so I asked to meet you there - "

"You did not," says Rick. "You said you wanted to stop by and pick up your stuff."

"Where were you, anyway?"

"At the PI office."

"Working?"

Sheepishly, he admits, "Sleeping. I wanted to give you a clear window, in case you'd rather not have to deal with me. Okay, so I wouldn't have to deal with you."

"Oh, Rick." She's kissing him again, relaxing into his embrace, but after a few minutes she tells him, "Not a word, okay? Especially not to the redheads. Don't try to figure this one out on your own, babe."

"How can I stay out of it, if I know you're out there with him?"

"I promise, if I think you can help with any of it, I swear I will tell you," she says, but her face falls. "I hope you can believe that."

"I believe it," he says gently. "For now. That's the best I can do, right now, Kate."

She lays her head on his shoulder again and sighs. "Right now, that's all I need to know."


End file.
